


From Eden

by NandaWrites



Category: The Last Hours Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternative Universe - Explorer!James, Alternative Universe - Forest Spirit!Matthew, Drabble, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-27 04:02:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21112337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NandaWrites/pseuds/NandaWrites
Summary: James wasn't lost. Not at all. Absolutely not. He just wasn't exactly sure which was the best way to get back to camp, but that was completely different from being lost. He knew exactly where he was and where he wanted to go, he just... Wasn't too sure on how to go about doing that.Explorer!James gets lost in the forest during one of his adventures and meets Forest Spirit!Matthew, that may have had something to do with it...





	From Eden

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, it is me, with yet another Heronchild AU. This drabble was inspired by [this](https://lemoncielart.tumblr.com/post/187466938697/what-about-forest-spiritmatthew-and-lost) amazing art by the even more amazing Lemoncielart that everyone should follow and love on because Maka is the best!

James wasn't lost. Not at all. Absolutely not. He just wasn't exactly sure which was the best way to get back to camp, but that was completely different from being lost. He knew exactly where he was and where he wanted to go, he just... Wasn't too sure on how to go about doing that.

But it was ok, he had his map, and his compass, and he knew how to guide himself using the stars if he ended up wandering through the forest until nighttime – which he was positive wouldn’t happen, since he wasn’t lost, and he could be back on camp whenever he wished to.

An hour later, he wasn’t so sure anymore. He really should have listened to his cousin Thomas and waited until the morning fog had cleared before wandering out, but they were so close to the area where the ruins were supposed to be, he could almost feel it, and he couldn’t stand still. He had promised his cousins he would just take a small look around the area and be right back, but then a rare species of bird had caught his attention and he had followed it in the hopes of taking a picture and then…. Yes, he had totally gotten lost.

He supposed it was time he stopped being stubborn and got out his radio to call for help. His cousin Christopher was very intelligent and very good with maps, he was sure that if they worked together, they would be able to be reunited in half an hour. He really didn’t think he had walked all that far.

He was rummaging through his backpack for his radio, when he heard a rustling sound behind him. He turned around and watched the woods nervously, but saw nothing.

“Tom?” He asked, hoping he had found his way after all and his cousins had spotted him first. “Chris?”

No answer. A few seconds later, the rustling sounded behind him again, making him turn around once more, heart racing. Again, there was nothing there.

“Ok, haha, you got me, I will never wander out alone again, I admit my mistake, you can come out now.”

Nothing.

“Guys, this is not funny!”

Again and again the pattern repeated itself, the rustling sounding closer, but every time he looked only the still forest greeted his sight. He swallowed hard, remembering not only the different types of animal that lived in the area, but also the stories the locals had told them a couple of weeks ago about vengeful spirits and monsters in the woods. He wasn’t much of a believer in the supernatural, but this was definitely testing his cynicism.

He took a step back, intent on running away, and tripped on a root he was sure hadn’t been there a moment before, he fumbled to get up, but the moment he managed to get himself into a half crouch, a tree branch was pushed by the wind and smacked him in the butt, making him fall again.  
The wind rustling through the trees almost sounded like a giggle.

Except there was no wind.

His fear and dread suddenly disappeared and turned into frustration. He got up again, this time more steadily, and pointed his finger at a random direction of the forest, not unlike the pose his mother used to assume when she was lecturing him and his sister when they were kids.

“Is this what you waste your time doing? Tripping people in the forest and trying to scare them? Is it really so boring living here that this is what you find fun? If you have this much free time, how about helping me get back to my camp, huh?”

The forest descended into silence, as if even the trees were shocked. The silence stretched, though, and his determination fizzled out into embarrassment. What was he doing, shouting at nothing in the middle of a forest like a mad man? He really should know better than letting some local myth and ghost stories get to him.

“Why aren’t thou scared anymore?”

James almost jumped out of his skin at the voice that suddenly sounded right behind his ear. He screamed and turned around, heart racing once more, and was faced with the strangest sight he had ever seen, even in all his years as an explorer.

The torso of a guy was coming out from inside the tree, floating in the air, as if he had just leaned forward from his perch to peek at James. He had golden hair that shimmered like the sun streaming through the leaves, but it was interrupted by two horns jutting out from his scalp like those of a ram. His ears were also deer-like, and he had vines tangled around his neck, arms and torso, slithering around his body as if they were alive.

What caught James’ attention the most, though, were his eyes. They were dark green and brown, and the colours seemed to move and change as if he was staring at a tree branch swaying gently in the wind. It was mesmerizing, and for a moment he almost forgot he was standing face to face with an actual kind of forest spirit, until the bizarreness of the situation hit him once more.

“Wh-What? Wh-wh-wh- Who? How? What?”

“Most people I doth that with run away frighted. It’s most entertaining. I’ve ne'r had anyone start shouting and calling me out for't, which I must admit was also most entertaining, yet most intriguing. Why aren’t thou scared anymore?”

It was a good question, but James wasn’t sure of the answer himself, and his brain being a mess of shock and annoyance and awe at the spirit wasn’t helping at all.

“I’m very stubborn,” he ended up blurting out, and blushed at it, before continuing, “that’s what my sister always says, anyway. And I don’t like being bullied. I’ve had enough of those kinds of pranks when I was in school to deal well with them.”

The spirit turned his head to the side, curious.

“What is ‘bullied’?”

“Uhh, it’s when people are mean to you on purpose because they don’t like you for no reason.”

At that, the other seemed shocked, his mesmerizing eyes shooting open and the colours in them seeming to dance even faster.

“Oh, no, that wasn’t what I was doing at all!”

“It… Wasn’t?” James sounded dubious.

“Of course not! I was being mean to thee because I didn’t like thou for perfectly good reasons!”

“What!? Why? I didn’t do anything! You don’t even know me!”

“Of course thou didst so! I do not like thou and thoust poking around mine forest at all, no sir. Breaking mine trees’ branches, lighting fires and scaring mine animals, and without e'en asking for permission or benison, that’s most rude! I don’t know how it works where thou join from, yet, hither, we don’t just walk into people’s houses and start poking around and breaking things. Most, most rude!”

The spirit had his finger pointing at James’ face, like a mother chiding an unruly child, and it made James’ face hot with embarrassment. Now that he thought about it, that… Actually made a lot of sense. He knew the locals had all sorts of rituals for entering the forest and gathering wood or fruits - they asked for permission, they traded what they picked for things they created, and they said thanks - he had just assumed it was all superstitious nonsense from people that had limited contact with the modern world and its science. He should have known better than putting his knowledge above someone else’s just because it was different than what he was used to.

“I… You are right. We haven’t been acting properly with the forest or the animals. On my and my cousins’ names, I’d like to offer you our sincerest apologies, and if you allow us to continue our way through your forest until our goal, I promise we will do things right from now on and behave like proper guests.”

The eyes of the spirit narrowed for a second, and then he laughed, brightly and boyishly. He had a beautiful smile, and a crystalline laugh like water streams; they rendered James speechless and awed once more. He would do anything, if only to see that smile again.

“Thou really are most entertaining, Mr. Explorer. Rarely doth outsiders recognize their ill ways and respect the heart of the forest and the beings that inhabit it. I can see thou hast a good heart. I really doth feel bad for summoning mine fog and animals to cause thee to lose thy way from thy cousins.”

James blinked owlishly.

“So that was _you_?!”

He wondered if his heart would be okay after all this emotional whiplash, going back and forth between adoration and rage so many times in such a short conversation could not be healthy. The spirit just shrugged, still smiling.

“I merely wanted to jest with thou, so thou’d give up on thy quest and go away, yet thou wandered farther away than e’en I was expecting, thou really hast a most ill sense of direction, it was most entertaining.” He chuckled. “Yet I was feeling a tad bad for it already, so I tried to fright thou into going back the right way, but that didn’t work either, and now hither we are.”

James sighed. It wasn’t like the other wasn’t in his right, and he didn’t think highly of himself enough to think it was in his place to argue with an ancient forest spirit, so he just bowed his head and accepted it.

“I apologise once again for our behavior the last couple of days. We will do better from now on, I promise. If, uh, you will allow us to continue venturing through the forest, that is?”

The spirit rubbed his chin, thinking long and hard about it, but then opened up another smile.

“You are most entertaining, and most nice, not to mention exquisitely nice to look at. I’ll allow it, yet I’ll continue to keep an eye on thee. Should thou doth any other thing to harm mine forest, we shall be forced to fight back, understand?”

James nodded, wondering if he was crazy or if the spirit had just called him handsome, then chided himself because he obviously had better things to be worrying about, like that blatant threat. Damn the spirit being so gorgeous himself, his brain wasn’t working right.

Apparently satisfied with his answer, the spirit nodded, too.

“Very well, then, Jamie. Good luck in finding whatever it is thou are looking for. Farewell!”

The spirit started to vanish back into the tree, and, in a panic, James reached forward and grabbed at his hand.

“Wait!”

In his haste, he ended up pulling the other back, and found himself looking up close into his eyes. What he had wanted to say vanished from his mind and he once again got lost in them, mesmerized, heart thumping. The spirit gave him a mischievous smile and, before he could even begin to imagine what he was thinking, the other leaned even further forward and his lips were suddenly pressed against his.

The spirit tasted fruity and sweet, and smelled like the most perfumed flower that had ever existed. James was completely taken by him in that moment, enraptured and ensnared, he kissed back full of devotion and adoration, such was the aura of the spirit that had captured him.

His happy smile then was the most gorgeous thing James had ever seen or would ever see in his life.

“Why, Jamie, if thou wanted to bestow an offering, all thou had to do was say so. I accept it, thou now hast my blessing to continue thy journey.”

The spirit winked at him, and in a second he had disappeared. James stood there, shocked still and in awe for what seemed like another small eternity, until he came back to his senses.

“Wait, that wasn’t it! I mean- thank you, but- How do I get back to my camp?!”

The wind passing through the trees sounded like another giggle, before it blew gently in a direction to James’ right, compelling him to it. It felt warm and caring, and he knew it was the spirit guiding him. He opened up a big smile and lowered his head in deference.

“Thank you, I hope to see you again.”

The wind blew warmly again, and James took it as a yes. He smiled one last time, before following on the direction the wind was indicating. He couldn’t wait to get back to camp and tell his cousins all about this. But… Perhaps… He would leave the kiss part out of the story.

**Author's Note:**

> That's it, lovelies, hope you liked it!
> 
> I used an online "dictionary" for the Old English speech Matthew uses, but I don't know how accurate it is. If you are a linguist or have knowledge in it, feel free to correct any passages that might need it, please.


End file.
